That Commando badge isn't British and no one in the British Forces would ever wear the word "Commando" by it's self on their uniform.

It would either read "Royal Marine Commando" or "Army Commando"

The former would indicate a full member of the RMC having enlisted in that branch of the Navy and the Latter, any member of the British Army who has completed the "All Arms Commando Course"

The image of Mr. Spencer supposedly in No.2 dress uniform, no medals or ribbon, no rank of any kind indicating most likely just out of recruit phase training.

Given the beret worn with No.2's rather than SD hat, I'm taking a guess at Royal Logistic Corps. I can't make out the cap badge although the colour of the beret and round shape of the cap badge seems to coincide. I could be wrong.

The dates which Mr. Spencer claims to have served in the British Forces don't fit with his alleged biography of experience and qualifications.

4 years isn't enough time to obtain the Q's and rank/experience to warrant that level of instructional capability. Indeed I'd be more interested in when Mr. Spencer obtained far more unit useful qualifications such as SA90 (b) DITS and Defense Train the Trainer, before then going on to be selected for any additional continuation training.

Bearing in mind that Mr. Spencer claims to have been an operationally deployable soldier. Factor 6-9 months of ramping up before any tour then PODL (leave) afterwards consumes the best part of 12 months (unit depending)

You can assume it takes at least 2+ years to become a Class 1 Infantry Soldier.

Given the beret worn with No.2's rather than SD hat, I'm taking a guess at Royal Logistic Corps. I can't make out the cap badge although the colour of the beret and round shape of the cap badge seems to coincide. I could be wrong.

He's claiming service in the Royal Logistic Corps from 2000-2001 according to his Facebook page.

He's claiming service in the Royal Logistic Corps from 2000-2001 according to his Facebook page.

That would mean the photo is either of Forest or Raynor Troop. If I could make out the rank on the officer, I could tell you which one. The funny thing with that photo is that the RLC wear a gold and blue lanyard with No. 2's But I cant pick out anybody wearing one. Maybe just a bad quality pic.

The other thing I noticed is that the N.C.O.s are from different corps/regiments Which isn't in keeping with the CMSR phase of basic. This gets me thinking it's the AFC stage.

The disclaimer is that much may changed. I know ATR Pirbright had a big shake up but I don't know when.

What I find difficult to understand, although I appreciate it can and does happen, is why someone enlists in a support arm IE Logistics, primarily to drive vehicles or stack shelves with kit (overly simplistic I grant you) but then wants to be an infantry soldier and in doing so claims to have undertaken one of two of the arguably hardest, non-SF military courses available to man nor beast.

So he was RLC between 2000-2001. Lets make the assumption, for now, that his year of enlistment was 2000 (which would be supported by the photo).

From 2001, we can further assume based on the material Spencer has presented in the public domain, that he was busy undergoing the all arms commando course, then busy undergoing military instructional qualifications for which he would have had to of held the rank of Lance Corporal (or acting at least), to have then gone on to have done his supposed CQC/CQB instructional qualifications.

Now, I'm not going to accuse Mr. Spencer of being a liar however, and I've stated this on several previous occasions in similar situations on this site. The British Forces don't heavily invest in hand to hand combatives. And those few, FEW people who do get to undertake these types of instructional courses are not your run of the mill soldiers and not individuals who are still within their first three years of service.

Given Mr. Spencer openly states that he left the British Forces in 2004, if we discount his first year of service which would be devoted to recruit training, trade training and eventual posting to whichever unit he'd be attached, he has just 3 years of additional service.

He must have been one of the busiest REMFs in the British Army !

His comments about later working for various professional security companies where he found himself regularly using his combat skills reads, to an ex-professional soldier now working in the very industry Mr. Spencer suggests he himself worked, as very immature and certainly not the sort of grandiose 'all guns and glory' statement I'd expect of anyone involved in PSD/CP/Security Embed.

What it does say, to me at least, is that Mr. Spencer may be embellishing his limited time within the British Forces to make him appear to be more experienced and credible than he actually is.

Everyone I knew that had completed P-Company or Commando courses (I knew one chap who had completed both and he was a Sup. Spec! (blanket stacker)) were long term servers that had been attached to either a Commando or parachute unit and were with them long enough that the training was of benefit.

The waiting list for places on these courses was huge too so if he did pack all this into 3 years; fair play to him. The only saving grace could be if he was a Pioneer because he would have been to Catterick for his Infantry training which *could* make him more desirable for the all arms courses. To be honest though, depending on the trade, he could easily have spent a year to a year and a half at Deepcut just waiting for a space to be available to begin Phase 2 training.

UPDATE

I have contacts within the Royal Marines looking at Mr. Spencer's claims of service as a "commando"

Intrestingly, unless Mr. Spencer formally left the British Army and re-enlisted or transfered into the RMC, he would have been severely limited in the SQ (Special Qualifications) available to him as an RLC soldier attached to the Marines, the main role being a Stores Accountant.

He would have been attached to the Commando Logistics Regiment based at Barstable and, although undergoing an eliment of weapon handling/military tactics training, he would not have been a front line infanteer.

In terms of additional qualifications to which Mr. Spencer alludes, there would have to be an association with rank. Given that Mr. Spencer would have apparently required three consecutive annual appraisals (SJARs) of 'Now Recommened for Promotion' or 'Now Highly Recommended for Promotion' just to gain the rank of Lance Corporal, it is reasonable to assert that Mr. Spencer was never a CQC/CQB instructor within any branch of the British Armed Forces.

This can however be easily disproved, if Mr.Spencer wanted to produce aspects of his Red Book (He'll know what that is if he has one) or a copy of his RMC Testimonial. Both documents will list service dates, qualifications, operational tours, rank on discharge etc.

Again, it is reasonable to assert, until demonstrated otherwise, that the information Mr. Spencer has put into the public domain regarding his military service and qualifications is highly questionable.